I type this with a vague sense of chagrin mixed with amusement, as I actually began writing this entry last week with the intention of having it up by last weekend, but I got caught up in other projects and such and sadly it was left to the wayside.
And now I am on the verge of my second trip! (This time to Kyushu!) This morning the bullet train leaves around 9:30, so I am taking advantage of this fortuitous bout of awakeness to fit this entry in (and then I will proceed to sleep the whole way to Kyushu).
So I spent last Wednesday afternoon at an earthquake/disaster center which was surprisingly close to where I live (about only one station away). It was for our project class, in which we discuss and look into a range of topics about Japan each day.
So the disaster center is basically a place to get informed about preparatory measures to take amidst disasters. This involves experiencing the conditions and running through safety drill in said conditions. The center’s introductory video sort of gave away the activities, although I guess those who are faint of heart knew what to expect.
It was sort of like a theme park actually.
First we entered a small room and were blown on at typhoon force winds (30m/s although I in a separate diagram it seems that in the past typhoon winds have gotten up to 70m/s)
Quiz question: What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon?
Hurricanes develop in the Atlantic. Typhoons develop in the Pacific.
I guess I can’t fool you.
So I hesitate to say that I’ve never been blown on so hard before except that I’ve ridden some fast roller coasters. But it was a lot of wind—enough to blow a bicycle away! Afterwards, I felt really energized for some reason. Like it was actually a blast of energy… a very tingly sensation.
Other events included an earthquake chamber, in which we were subjected to a rigorous earthquake that shook us for awhile on the strongest level on Japan’s earthquake scale.
Basically, four of us at a time were told to enter the room and crouch underneath a kitchen table until the shaking subsided for a bit, during which we got up to turn off the gas, stove and open the door, and then ducked back underneath the table to be shaken up again.
It felt like being in a washing machine.
In retrospect, I wonder if there was anyone who really didn’t want to be put in a washing machine.
I guess you kind of have to take some risks when coming to Japan.
Quiz question 2: Why would you open up a door for an earthquake?
A. To ventilate the room.
B. To keep the roof from blowing off.
C. To allow you to escape in case the door frame is bent out of shape.
D. To let your neighbors in.. they might need to take cover too!
And the answer is C! Of course, the answer is always C! Or whichever is longest.
(Earthquake information)
After that, we enjoyed some fire drills. This involved watching a humorous video of people trying to escape from a burning hotel and then running through a series of smokey rooms following an exit sign in order to escape. The smoke was not harmless, and in fact, smelled of maple syrup. However we were instructed to not stick around and wait for pancakes, but to find the exit.
The very last exhibition wasn’t really disaster related (although some people might disagree). The last drill was… becoming an old person! Apparently as you get older, your joints stop working and you can’t really swivel your neck and ankles as much. In order to simulate this, we had to wear what I would call “elder-gear,” but it was really just there to inconvenience us. We put it on like obedient slaves and proceeded to walk up some stairs, get in a bathtub, bump into a stove (I didn’t really get the stove part) etc. This was followed up by a truly fear-invoking preview as to how you hear (or not) sounds as you get older. The conclusion I have arrived at is that out of all the natural disasters I experienced, getting old is probably the most terrifying.
Afterwards we traveled back to our apartments. It was really a joke how close we were to them. As in “Hey, this place was in our backyard the whole time.” Basically the pachinko parlors were our first indication back that we were headed in the right direction.
Afterwards I invited my peer tutor over and we made Napolitan, Japan’s special spaghetti. Special is probably the only way to describe a spaghetti made with ketchup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ia2kEaq1d0
Now, I can’t say that I am a good chef. I can say that I like cooking, but everyone has their own methods. I do like to measure portions out and use as many ingredients as I can, but living in a apartment for a month, I am content just to “eyeball” everything that needs eyeballing. I seem to have forgotten what country I am living in. Needless to say I bought the wrong kind of mushroom (shiitake is not acceptable?) I also seem to have bought the completely wrong kind of pasta (what kind of ketchup-spaghetti is this? If you’re going to make ketchup-spaghetti, you’d better make it the right way by not improvising ingredients. You’d better not think about trying to exchange ketchup for actual tomato sauce either.)
All things considered, it actually turned out to be a pretty tasty dish. Definitely something to consider making if you’re a poor college student.
Thursday was .... class was… well…
Melody on Wednesday night: I bet that presentation was tomorrow…
Melody on Thurday morning: I wonder if that presentation is today…
Melody first period: According to the syllabus, that presentation is next week!
Melody second period: Then what are we doing in class today?!
Melody at lunch: I should really finish writing out my presentation at least.
Melody at presentation class: Oh….too late.
Meanwhile..
Melody’s classmate: I had my Japanese friend teach me all this formal language just for this presentation!
Other classmates: We are great a winging presentations! Here is some fantastic vocabulary that we had sitting around.
Melody: Oh shoot….
As if my luck wasn’t finished running out, I got on the wrong train and didn’t have enough time to return home to prepare for GION MATSURI.
Gion maturi is one of Japan’s three largest festivals, centered in Kyoto around Yasaka Shrine.
It began during the beginning of Japan’s Heian period (869 AD), when an epidemic swiped through the capital (which at the time was Kyoto of course!) and 66 hoko (current meaning is festival floats… maybe they were actually lances back then) were erected in prayer to the deity Gion, to dispel the malaise. Later on in the Ounin era (Late 1460s) the festival was suspended and wasn’t resurrected until 1500, by local business leaders. Since then, tapestries have been imported from countries like China, Persia, Belgium to decorate the floats. The floats themselves are quite extravagant, and have been called “moving art museums.” And yes, they are moved around the city, in spite of being extremely heavy and weighing several tons. Apparently, people actually volunteer to move these things, and not just Japanese… study abroad students volunteer to help move them too… Nowadays in addition to hook there are yama (mountains) and collectively they are called “yamaboko.”In total, there are about 23 of these floats, and I was assigned to go research one called “the chicken boko.”
It does sound pretty ridiculous, but it actually has an interesting story behind it. Basically, in the Yao Period of China, there was an emperor who asked his people to bang a drum and write down their complaints if they had any. As it turns out, either there were no complaints and everyone was happy, or the emperor did a lousy job of advertising this, since the drum was never touched. In fact, moss started to grow on it, and chickens made it their home. Therefore, the chicken (not the drum) has come to symbolize peace and contentment.
Maybe that is saying something about a system of government that is so representative that citizens can avoid bureaucracy and get their point across by hitting a drum.
But in order to be Japanese, you don’t really need to know this. You just need to know that every year around this time, there’s a festival and it gets very crowded around Shijo, so you should probably make plans to go somewhere else that night or just stay inside.
So back to the festival-- It lasts through June but the main days are the 15-17th.
The 15th is called yoi yoi yama. The 16th is just yoi yama. The 17th is just yama. Or so you would think, but it’s actually the day when the floats are carried around the city.
Since I bought a ¥350 yukata, I was planning to wear it at least once. Initially I was going to go on Thursday when it was least crowded, but I didn’t have enough time to prepare and just decided to stay home. And then a friend invited me to go for a walk and we ended up at the matsuri! Hooray!
As expected, it was crowded, but not intolerable.
Also as expected, there was a ton of food stalls and places selling beer and meat!
As tempting as beer and meat are, however, I settled for candied strawberries and pineapple at this charming booth.
Who lives in a candied pineapple under the sea?
The following day I went on a class trip to a museum of Japanese sweets. I somehow felt like I had something to do with this trip being planned, since I suggested it as a topic to do a project on. However, I didn’t actually eat any sweets! Shame on me.
Later that night, though, I went back to Shijo with some friends to go shopping and we ended up back at the perimeter of the festival! It was so refreshing to see Japanese people wearing yukata inside of electronics stores, and anywhere for that matter. I almost wished I was wearing mine…except…
So time got away from us and we stuck around the side of the river where all kinds of youth and people who do demonstrations with fire hang out until the wee hours of the morning. Except that the last train comes at midnight. Or just before midnight. And it is 11:30. どうしよう？
We picked up the pace as we ran nearly half a mile to get on the last train and avoid a hefty taxi fee! The only casualty in the scramble was a pen that fell out of my bag as I wrestled to get my wallet out… a dearly missed tool of mine. I feel like I should hold a ceremony for its loss. But the feeling of arriving on the train after running that much was out of this world!
The following Sunday I visited my host family after a week of separation anxiety. They took me out for lunch for my favorite chanpon noodles!
Then we proceeded to Hikone and Hikone castle!
The castle itself had a nice view, but being a Sunday it was quite crowded, in spite of the heat...
Hikone has this famous little character called "Hikonyan" (Hiko-meow.. roughly)
He wears a kabuto helmet!
Then we headed for the city's main streets. There are stores selling hand-crafted glass beads, ware, etc. Very lovely. In addition to Hikonyan, right now these three sisters from a historical drama were all the rage throughout town, with their own plushies being sold everywhere.
And so the week resumes onward. Monday business as usual...Tuesday was a little unusual.
I've never known of a "duty" of having to pay for owning a T.V. Apparently I have not experienced enough of Japan. So when someone comes round to my door telling me, 受信, or reception, I am very excited with the prospects of receiving more channels, especially when there are so many annoying ones that I can't receive. And then, when someone says, there's an "obligation" to pay or something... well, that is understandable. It's not really rational to expect free channels out of nowhere. And when they tell me they have a receipt for me (this is really as far as my Japanese is taking me at this point, since the indirect language of businesspeople is like a whole 'nother language in itself), I just think "Oops, I guess I pressed a wrong button and ordered some channels by mistake and now have to pay." So I paid.
Well, this is Japan after all, so of course you can't go around expecting there not to be rules for comparatively irrational things.
Apparently, Japan has a system in which people with a T.V. have to pay a fee to receive channels, regardless of whether or not they want them...
http://pid.nhk.or.jp/jushinryo/multilingual/english/index.html#link03
That's right..anyone with a television set is required to pay. Even people living in dorms. I wonder how they keep track of who T.V. s though.And as if that weren't abrasive and harrowing enough, I also had to put up with a typhoon! (Come on, give me a break). It wasn't very serious, but serious enough to get me out of morning classes for a day! And thanks to my training at the earthquake center, I was so prepared to deal with whatever bicycles and whatnot that might come flying my way.
Much to my disappointment, there were no high speed winds that left me clinging to railings, but there was a light misty rain that made things nice and chilled off.
There were still afternoon classes, however not for us! Instead, we had our weekly cultural excursion. And to where else, but the international manga museum!
Hmm, well I can't say that everyone was entirely excited about it, but it was interesting to see the place, and since it is conveniently in Kyoto, it wouldn't make sense not to go, right?
According to my host family, the building was actually once an elementary school at which the grandmother of the family had worked. Very nice architecture and location. It kind of almost didn't feel like a museum, but a really old library.
And since then... there is really nothing much to speak of. My electronic dictionary died, so I was considering getting a new one. But I'm not so keen to put forth upwards of $400 to buy something I may never use again. I'm afraid I may have to go without for the rest of this stay, which as inconvenient and handicapping as it is, might just spare me some effort of always having to jostle it out again.
Or I could just get an IPOD touch and download all those dictionary apps... promising much?
In all honesty, I could really use one consolidated device. I could use a new computer and phone and IPOD anyway... could it be time for me cave in and purchase an iphone, since everyone who's anyone in Japan has one anyway? Or should I just wait until a really useful phone-computer-mp3 playing dictionary comes out... or is that, by definition, an iphone?
Anyways, this has little relevance to Japan, so carrying onward...
I am going to MY SUPER FAVORITE KYUSHU in T minus 2 hours! I am super excited, which is why I woke up at 5:30 AM even though I went to bed at 2 AM... The travel bug is insidious.
So I get my fill of local things! Local restaurant. Local cuisine. Local family. FARM STAY.
Definitely the most anticipated point in my journey. So I will take lots of LOCAL pictures and eat lots of LOCAL food and bring back some good LOCAL stories to share with y'all.
Until next time!
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